Friday, October 25, 2013

Suffering Slings and Arrows

The shit slinging and piercing comments that we endure daily from our elected officials prove only one thing, that they are completely out of touch with what is needed in this day and age. Here in the United states of America, we are coming into mid-term elections. Those who have the most power over our daily lives are about to be elected by the slimmest segment of the population assuring that a micro-minority of votes will give them their unwarranted power. For a series of reasons, including, but not limited to our lack of education about our own political system, rampant media ignorance, growing desire to not take responsibility for our plight, an unhealthy disrespect for the electorate and pathological focus on the Presidency that makes us forget about the hundreds of local representatives that make decisions daily that affect our lives. The first Tuesday in November is election day and over the past twenty years of working as an election official, I have seen an average of seventeen percent of the registered voters show up for these elections.

This explains precisely why the minority, the hateful bigots and obstructionists have unleashed so much money on taking over state houses across our nation. It is the sucker punch of politics, many never saw it coming. The current slate of freshman representatives were elected on a single issue. They sincerely believe that the government itself is to blame for every ill, not the greedy bastards who paid to get them into office. They seem to be oblivious to the fact that the vast majority of government welfare flows to the folks making six figures or more. Somehow, the delusion perpetrated upon them by their masters has taken on the aura of fact and their ideas about who is to blame for our current economic malaise keeps coming back to age-old relics of decades past. The corpulent, cigar smoking fools have invited in a new breed of closed-minded idiots to help buoy them in this tumultuous time, but just because some of them are skinny white chicks and wide-eyed and blinking athletic-looking types, their vulgar hatred and unwarranted attacks are no less detrimental to the average citizen.

The poor seem to be the most put upon by this class of "leader" because they are not only encouraged, but required to a firm set of self-loathing values to fit in with the political perspective. Not only are they attacked by the price gouging elites, but they are exploited as a class of legal slaves as well, putting in so much time to make ends meet that they also have to be led by the ring in their noses to the idea of "quality time" with their children, spouses and families. The mechanical advantage delivered by the long lever arm of hearsay, pushing on a fulcrum of staunch end-times philosophy exert maximum pressure on the wage slaves of our nation and beyond our national borders as well. The seething coals of hatred are routinely fanned by the lies of our ruling elite. Those who see through the ruse are labelled every sort of bad word, often exhibiting a complete lack of awareness that our points are valid. Demonizing the enemy is a technique as old as the hills, but in our nation, which tries to sell itself as the crucible for democracy, it is most unwelcome.

Pitting neighbor against neighbor when the true enemies are funding the campaigns for seats of power is like clipping your toenails to get fresher breath, or to grow a more full head of hair. The exploited classes have far more in common with one another than any two billionaires, but what the poor and disenfranchised lack is a shared strategy. The wealthy know the rules of engagement for class warfare and always have each other's backs. Recognizing that we have been beaten down for nearly the entire length and breadth of recorded history is at once demoralizing for some, but can be inspirational for many. In this fact lies the truth of our current situation and the hope for change that many seek. The fact that we, as a people, have already withstood the mass casualties of elites making war upon our union organizers, banded together to call for more ecological justice and the massive campaigns to secure safe food that we can trust to be healthy and safe. Many victories have come, but this is why the ruling elite feel so threatened now. They are gearing up for the biggest fight of their lives and if you know anything about the human spirit, tenacity is what makes us thrive under difficult situations. The rich, the bigots and those filled with hatred will not give up their guns without a fight to the death.

They love to fight according to their own rules and frequently implore us to look the other way when truth is unfolding in front of our eyes. The media is controlled by a handful of conglomerates and the cameras are pointed at only the things that will inspire fear and confusion, allowing them to keep more of us hiding in our homes, lest we take to the streets in protest. We are kept busy working multiple jobs to make ends meet for a reason. How many old hippies have you spoken with that have said, "After working twelve hour shifts all week, I just don't have the energy to go to a rally, write a letter to the editor or call my Congressman."? How many of these folks follow that up that with "All I want to do when I get a day off is to lay around, relax, have some wine and I'll be lucky to get the grass mowed."?

I believe that this is why so many resort to the finger pointing and ridicule of folks they know nothing about. Like the child's watercolor palette, only having a few choices is easier than truly discovering the full range of color that is out there in the world around us. What is desperately needed at this time in our history is a way to understand that we are indeed all in this together and that just because everything that we see has been exploited and objectified by the current ruling elite, we do not have to live our lives for them, we do not have to sacrifice our families to them and we certainly do not have to stay away from the polls to placate them. The time has come to reacquaint ourselves with the important things that we have, what we bring tot he table and to not participate in the demise of our own nation. We have all been hurt by the system that exists now, but suffering is a choice that we make. Standing up for our rights will require more responsibility, but the pay off is to get a portion of our lives back, to rediscover our dignity and to affirm the fact that we are all deserving of respect.

The pawns have always outnumbered the kings and we need to understand that without our own needs getting met, we are sacrificing the long-term health and welfare of our species to enrich an almost infinitesimal minority.

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